New images have been revealed by Zaha Hadid Architects for the design of new residential tower in Melbourne, Australia. The Mayfair Residential Tower is the second project of ZHA will be built in Melbourne - the other high-rise building, comprised of four rounded-lacework-looking volumes, will rise in the developing ares of the Melbourne’s Central Business District. 

The new residential building is located within the established streetscape of St Kilda Road and the site has spectacular views of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Port Phillip Bay, Albert Park and skyline of the Central Business District. 

Zaha Hadid Architects will work together with a local firm Elenberg Fraser on this project, which is expected to cost AUD$330 million.

The 19-storey building, encompassing a total of 33,600-square-metre space, will consist of 158 residences of between one to five bedrooms that range in size from 70-square-metre to 556-square-metre area. 

Inspired by the fluidity within Australia’s landscapes and seascapes, the studio designed a specific façade composition, which is derived from a system of simple wave formations that is further developed to generate variables of the same design language. 

The studio used some defined algorithms to determine these variables, enabling the façade to adapt to the wide variety of different apartment layouts and also adapt to the irregular site.

"Building on ZHA’s expertise in delivering complex architectural geometries, computational parametric design allowed an optimizing algorithm to identify shape similarities within the façade to a tolerable degree, minimizing the number of different façade panels required. This process enabled the creation of the building’s sculpted façade that would have otherwise been cost prohibitive," said ZHA.

"The fluidity of the building’s exterior is carried through into the interiors. Living areas within the apartments have been arranged as a sequence of spatial experiences that maximize the iconic views across the city, with bespoke interior features that echo the sculptural qualities of the façade."

Following the same geometry on open spaces, the communal areas, roof terrace and swimming pools have been placed on top of the tower to propose magnificent view overlooking botanical gardens. 

 At street level, the Mayfair’s design re-establishes a sense of community with double-height civic spaces for a restaurant cafe that opens onto the street. The interior spaces also follows the same fluid forms to get more natural daylight and generate more openness with curvaceous furnitures and fixtures.

If everything goes on a plan, the project is expected to complete in 2020. 

The studio is currently working on the "world's highest atrium" in Beijing's Lize Financial Business District - they currently unveiled construction photos of the project. ZHA also won an international competition to transform Tallinn’s old city harbour with new public spaces. 

Project facts

Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)
Design: Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher (ZHA)
ZHA Project Director: Michele Pasca di Magliano
ZHA Project Architects: Stefano Paiocchi (Arch.), Daniel Fiser (ID)
ZHA Project Team: Marina Martinez, Luca Ruggeri, Anat Stern, Roberta Sartori, Sam Mcheileh, Alejandro Diaz,  Nhan Vo, Michael Sims, Maria Echeverri, Raquel Arauco Ordas, Kate Revyakina, Michael Rogers, Flavia Santos, Daniel Coley, Natasha Gill, Ashwanth Govindaraji, Arian Hakimi Nejad, Jose Castaneda, Afsoon Eshaghi, Alessandra Catello, Millie Anderson, Arya Safavi, Hee Seung Lee, Johannes Elias, Juan Camilo Mogollon, Julia Hyoun Hee Na, Manuele Gaioni
ZHA Competition Team: Gianluca Racana, Michele Pasca di Magliano, Ludovico Lombardi, Daniel Fiser, Luca Ruggeri, Julia Hyoun Hee Na, Hee Seung Lee, Nhan Vo, Sobitha Ravinchandran, Adam Twigger, Rafael Contreras, Annarita Papeschi, MohammadAli Mirzaei, Kostantinos Psomas

Local Architect: Elenberg Fraser
Structural & Civil Engineering: Webber Design
Building Services Engineering: Murchie Consulting
Town Planner: SJB
Quantity Surveyor: WT Partnership
Facade Consultant: BG and E
Wind Engineering: MEL Consultants
Traffic Engineer: Traffix
Building Surveyor: PLP Building Surveyors and Consultants
Fire Engineer: Umow Lai
Lighting: NDYLIGHT
Engineering Services: Inhabit Group
Geotech: Golders
Waste Management: Leigh Design
Acoustic: Vipac
Land Surveyor: Bosco Jonson

All images © VA

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